Update 10/16/2017 – Retraction: It appears that we were caught by a clever Photoshop. While the image of the standee was circulated widely with numerous claiming its veracity, Grape-kun’s rock remains vacant according to photos from the scene.

We take full responsibility for this error, and apologize for the inconvenience. We’ve updated this article for accuracy.

It is never our intent to mislead our readers, in any capacity. We will continue to do our best to bring you the best in anime news that we can, and exercise even greater diligence in our reporting.

Grape-kun was a 20-year-old Humboldt Penguin, who gained fame after falling in love with a standee of Kemono Friends character Hululu. Zoos across Japan partnered with the Kemono Friends franchise as a means of attracting new foot traffic. This included placing standees of characters from the shows in their equivalent animals’ cages, and hosting Kemono Friends branded events.

Then came Grape-kun, a 20-year-old Humboldt Penguin, who embraced the way of the otaku. Grape-kun fell in love with a standee of Hululu, the Humboldt Penguin in the Kemono Friends anime. Japanese visitors noticed that the penguin would spend every waking moment staring at, praising, and sitting next to the standee, treating it as one would a living mate.